ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in a parliamentary committee meeting on Saturday decided to push for a nominee unanimously supported by opposition parties for the vacant post of prime minister after Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from public office after a landmark Supreme Court ruling in the Panama Papers case a day earlier.During the meeting chaired by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the party’s leaders discussed the Panamagate verdict and its repercussions on the political climate in Pakistan.Following the sit-down, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that he had conveyed the party’s desire to field a unanimously agreed-upon candidate to Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah.Qureshi announced that the party was fielding Yasmeen Rashid to contest by-polls for the NA-120 constituency left vacant after the deseating of Nawaz Sharif.Imran Khan also met with Awami Muslim League leader Sheikh Rashid and invited him to attend Sunday’s ‘thanksgiving day’ gathering in Islamabad. Rashid accepted the invitation.
The PTI’s parliamentary party expressed satisfaction and gratitude over the Supreme Court verdict in the Panamagate case, with Khan terming the decision a “historic” one.The PML-N decided, in its own parliamentary committee meeting, to nominate Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as the successor to his brother, Nawaz Sharif.Additionally, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who was till Friday the petroleum minister, will take over as interim prime minister.